It was May 9, only 10 days before Amir Khan was scheduled to engage Lamont Peterson in a rematch of their super lightweight title fight. Khan was anxious to fight Peterson again after what happened that night.

Peterson, fighting in his hometown of Washington D.C., took Khan’s two titles via split decision (113-112, 113-112, 110-115) on Dec. 10, but there was plenty of controversy. Khan had two points deducted for pushing, which is uncommon. There were suspicious circumstances surrounding a non-working official of one of the two governing bodies interfering with scorecards at ringside. Those cards also took a long time to read.

It all amounted to an ordered rematch and Khan was stoked. Until May 9, when Peterson was found to have tested positive for testosterone. The return bout was off, and Khan’s promoter – Golden Boy Promotions – searched for another opponent.

Enter Danny Garcia of Philadelphia. Tonight, he and Khan will square off in what is now a title unification bout at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas (on HBO). Garcia will defend his World Boxing Council belt. Khan this week was reinstated as World Boxing Association champ after the organization stripped Peterson as a result of the positive test. That belt also is on the table.

That doesn’t mean Khan is thrilled he had to completely change directions. He was preparing for a redemption type of rematch with Peterson. It was all he thought about, so not getting it was tough.

“Well, yeah, you still think about what happened and stuff because I would have kind of preferred to settle the score properly and gone in there and fought him,” Khan said. “I mean, even when he got caught positive I thought there was still a chance of me fighting him, and I told my team and my team still advised me not to because it’s not fair.

“What got to me a little bit was just not having the chance to win my titles back and to kind of put things straight.”

The transition to Garcia was made easier because Khan’s camp is led by trainer Freddie Roach, who trains Khan out of his Wild Card gym in Hollywood.

“I want to thank my team for making me feel so comfortable, so chilled,” Khan said. “They took all the pressure off me.”

Roach did that by telling Khan to go home to England for a spell.

“We were in the gym for six weeks. We were getting ready to fight, obviously maybe the biggest fight of our lives, the rematch,” Roach said. “We were 100 percent ready for that fight and that fell apart.

“What I did, I sent him home for two weeks because I didn’t want to burn him out. I told him, ‘Just relax, don’t train.’ He said, ‘Should I run?’ I said, ‘No, just relax, take two weeks off. We’ll get a new fight scheduled, we’ll get back here.’ The third week he comes back to the gym, he was already in pretty good shape.”

Roach did have to switch sparring partners because Garcia is more of a stand-up fighter, rather than one who crouches a bit like Peterson.

Another stroke of good fortune for Khan is Garcia comes from a big-talking team. His father and trainer, Angel Garcia, even said he’s never seen a Pakistani who can fight.

It would not be surprising to see Khan (26-2, 18 KOs) do just that. Garcia (23-0, 14 KOs) is an undefeated champion, but he won a vacant title by beating a blown-up, 35-year-old Erik Morales in March in Houston.

Morales, who was at his best at super bantamweight (122 pounds) and featherweight (126), was stripped of the title when he couldn’t make the 140-pound limit.

“A lot of people are saying, ‘Garcia this, Garcia that,'” Khan said. “Garcia comes from a win against Erik Morales. No disrespect. Erik Morales had his day, he was a brilliant fighter and I’m a big fan of Erik Morales. But he was not the same fighter.”

No, he wasn’t. Garcia seems to realize that.

“Yeah, it’s a different fight,” said Garcia, 24. “I’m fighting a young guy like me with speed and power. Any time you put two young guys in, they’re going to give the fans a great fight.”

Knowing this apparently doesn’t diminish the confidence of Garcia, who has a chance to make an indelible mark in boxing.

“Man, a win would be big,” he said. “I would put me in a new category, superstar category.”

At Thursday’s final news conference, Khan vowed that won’t happen while speaking directly to Angel Garcia.

“I cannot wait until after the fight when we stand here and I have knocked your son out,” Khan said. “He is going to see what a Pakistani British fighter can do.”

Danny Garcia scoffed.

“My dad talked (expletive) 23 times, and I backed it up 23 times,” he said. “I am 23-0. Come Saturday, he will have talked (expletive) 24 times and I am going to back it up for the 24th time.”

Chavez, Martinez won’t be holding back

Josesito Lopez’s stunning ninth-round technical-knockout victory over Victor Ortiz last month at Staples Center has earned him a shot at a major title. That is terrific.

But the Riverside native’s challenge to junior middleweight champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez of Mexico still can’t compare to the middleweight title fight between Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Sergio Martinez.

The bouts will headline separate cards on the same night, Sept. 15, and in the same city, Las Vegas. Alvarez-Lopez will take place at MGM Grand while Chavez-Martinez is at Thomas & Mack Center.

The Golden Boy Promotions card featuring Alvarez-Lopez is on regular Showtime. Chavez-Martinez, being staged by rival promoter Top Rank Inc., is on HBO pay-per-view.

Alvarez is enormously popular in Mexico. But historically, the middleweight division has been second only to the heavyweight division as far as prestige. Chavez Jr. also is the son of a legend and he, too, is big in Mexico. Finally, Chavez Jr. and Martinez truly dislike each other.

Chavez, 26, of Mexico made the third defense of his title with a seventh-round TKO of tough Andy Lee on June 16 in El Paso. There was some hoopla about whether Chavez took the mandatory drug test beforehand.

That caused Martinez to say things such as Chavez (46-0-1, 32 KOs) didn’t have to take the test because World Boxing Council president Jose Sulaiman, Chavez’s godfather, was protecting him. Chavez’s promoter, Bob Arum, and his trainer, Freddie Roach, said Chavez definitely took the test and passed, but there was some confusion about it that night.

The damage by Martinez was done.

“Martinez has said a lot of bad things,” Chavez said this week. “Let’s see if he wants to go to the center of the ring and fight like a man.”

“I have this great opportunity to shut Martinez’s mouth,” Chavez said. “On Sept. 15 he will finally realize he has underestimated me – when the referee is counting 10 over him.”

Martinez, of Argentina, remains unimpressed.

“Mr. Chavez,” he said to Chavez Sr. at a news conference, “take a look at your son now because you will not recognize his face after we have fought on Sept. 15. I will beat him up.”

Etc.

Dereck Chisora (15-3, 9 KOs) will take on former heavyweight champion David Haye tonight in London, England, from where both hail (on EPIX and EpixHD.com). They tangled at a news conference in February following a heavyweight title fight between Chisora and Vitali Klitschko (won by Klitschko), so there is no love lost between them. Haye (25-2, 23 KOs) has predicted a second-round knockout. Chisora’s forecast is not as bold. “He’s going to go down in Round 7,” Chisora said. Chisora isn’t sure he’ll shake Haye’s hand afterward. “We’ll see,” he said. … Goossen Tutor Promotions this week played host to a news conference in Oakland, where it will stage a super middleweight title fight between Andre Ward and Chad Dawson on Sept. 8 at Oracle Arena (on HBO). … Art Hovhannisyan (14-0-2, 8 KOs) of Glendale will take on former lightweight champion Miguel Acosta of Venezuela in the main event next Friday at Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez (on Showtime). … Goossen Tutor’s next card at Sportsmen’s Lodge will take place Aug. 11 and feature 2008 U.S. Olympian Shawn Estrada (14-0, 12 KOs) of East Los Angeles taking on Felix Piedra (8-0-1, 5 KOs) of Weslaco, Texas, in the light heavyweight main event. Tickets priced at $30, $50 and $100 are available at www.goossentutor.com or by calling (818) 817-8001.